Daniel tuned his first piano when he was 16. At the time, he was only looking to impress a girl by learning a song for her on the only piano he had available to him: a 1920’s full upright (then called a “grand upright”) that couldn’t hold a tune for more than a month. After obtaining a tuning lever and the OK from his parents, he took the front board off of the piano, looked inside, and went to work. After about 8 hours spread over a week, the first tuning was finished. Of course, the piano couldn’t hold it, so after a few weeks, he noticed it needed tuning again. So again he tuned it. And again. And again. Until one day, Daniel had practiced to the point that he was getting pretty fast at what he was doing. However, he needed guidance.

Piano technology does not tolerate the self-taught well. He sought out the help of a local Registered Piano Technician (RPT, a designation given by the Piano Technicians Guild to those who can demonstrate significant knowledge and proficiency in the craft), and he found one in Dwight Denzer, who had come to tune his high school pianos that year. Dwight was good enough to let him look over his shoulder while he worked and answered questions about what he was doing, as well as give further guidance about his tuning technique.

From there, Daniel went on to study music at Illinois College and continued his pursuit in piano technology in his own time. He married his love Andrea in 2016. He eventually became a full-time technician as an independent contractor for a tuning company, for which he worked 3 years. During that time, he became a member of the PTG and reconnected with Dwight, along with a number of other RPT’s in the area. They helped further develop Daniel’s skills in the finer areas of piano regulation and repair. When he felt that the time was right, he decided to set off on his own and become fully independent as a piano technician.

Daniel is based in Lincoln, IL. For business inquiries, feel free to contact him.